Why card statements are harder than bank statements
Card statements rarely show a running balance, often print two dates per line, spread charges across several sections (purchases, payments, fees, interest), and sign amounts the opposite way from a bank account. Copying them by hand is where most expense-report mistakes come from.
The converter reads the account summary (previous balance, payments and credits, purchases, new balance) and the transaction list, then checks that the transactions add up to the change in balance. If they don't, you'll see the difference and can fix the rows before downloading.
Using the spreadsheet
- Expense reports: filter the business charges and copy them into the expense report template, which totals by category.
- Receipts: sort by amount to find the charges of $75 or more that need a receipt.
- Subscriptions: sort by description to spot recurring charges you no longer use.
- Year-end: combine twelve statements and build a pivot table of spending by merchant.
Getting card transactions into the books
For bookkeeping, set up the card as a Credit card account in your software and import the same statement as a QBO file (QuickBooks) or OFX file (most other programs). The download step on this page offers every format, so you can keep the Excel copy for review and import the same data. Make sure the account type in the review step says Credit card before you export.
Common card statement layouts
- Transaction date and post date columns, with month names (Mar 08) or numbers (03/08).
- Payments and credits as negative numbers, in parentheses or marked CR.
- Merchant names that wrap onto a second line with the city and state.
- Statements that straddle the new year, where the year comes from the closing date.